The genre of bluegrass receives its fair share of criticism. Considered by some to be a backwater of the teeming estuary of American music known as country, bluegrass, characterized by a decidedly twangier sound, gets unfairly stereotyped as the redneck’s music of choice and relegated to straw-chewing Appalachian family reunions and backyard barbecues. But innovative and technically-gifted bands like The Punch Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show inject the genre with genuine spice and life. The latter’s pulse-pounding jam, “Hard To Tell,” laments the coyness of a straying love interest with searing speed and pitch-perfect, keening harmonies.
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